Water Rocks Sand

Don’t Stand Here

This time of year you don’t want to try and get a picture like this at the Blow hole on Oahu.  By May the large waves come from the south side. Winter storms in the Southern Hemisphere generate swells that create breaking waves on south facing shores. To stand here during the summer is to court personal disaster.  As this was in February, the surf action was on the North Shore.  If you’ve seen video of the Banzai Pipeline, that’s during the winter while the south and east shores are flat.

Photo Gallery now supports raw format

If you’re a Windows user and you take pictures in the RAW file format instead of JPEG, you can download a codec that allows you to view those RAW files in Windows Photo Gallery and Windows Explorer. While I don’t use Photo Gallery, I like being able to view my Sony RAW files in Explorer.

More info is at the Windows Blog.

Whale watching spot

Hawaii is over half way thru Whale Watching season.  A prime spot to see whales on Oahu is Makapuu Point.  Here’s a panorama I took standing on the lookout directly above Makapuu Lighthouse and facing mauka. To the right is the Windward side of Oahu.

 

Take a Hike

The Island of Oahu has many great hiking trails. In my neighborhood there are four (five if you include the walk out to Makapuu Lighthouse). The hike to the top of Koko Crater provides a 360 degree view of East Honolulu and across the Kaiwi Channel to Molokai and Maui.  Many people reach the summit walking up the tracks of the incline railway.  The railway was built in WW II to move soldiers manning the observation/radar site.  It’s a steep hike in parts plus there are sections of the railway elevated above the ground and you must step carefully from railway tie to tie. I got this shot when I carried my Maxxum 7D up to the top a few years ago.  On the left is the main area of Hawaii Kai with Kuapa Pond next to Maunalua Bay.  From this height you can see up the coast to Diamond Head and some of the of the buildings in Waikiki

View from Aloha Tower

 

 

Chained Sand

Sports Sunday in East Honolulu

Hawaii Kai will be a focus of some serious sports activity this Sunday.  The 40K bicycle portion of the Tinman Triathlon is coming out to Hawaii Kai in the morning and then back to Kapiolani Park.  Then starting around noon the first of a long string of Paddleboarders will be completing the 32 mile crossing from Kaluako’i Beach on Molokai to Maunalua Bay.  While most will be lying down while they do that some will be standing the whole way!  Makes me tired just thinking about it.

 

Blurred Surfer

I made the leap to a DSLR in 2005 with the Konica Minolta Maxxum 7D.  The photo ops that pushed the limits of my 7D and lens combination were lowlight with alot of movement.  I took a bunch of pictures that I knew weren’t great but they had potential if I knew how to work with them.   Surfing subjects within an hour of sunset were a challenge.  I could push the ISO up to 1600 but I wasn’t happy with those results.  The highest I would go was ISO 800 with my 28-200 Sigma at full zoom.  With the lens as wide as it would go the best shutter speeds I could get were 45th or 60th of a sec. After my initial post processing I set those pics aside to wait for a better day.  Today is the day for one of them.  With recent upgrades in both hardware and software plus additional skill with the software (Lightroom and Photoshop), I’m revisiting those early efforts.   What ya think?

College Baseball is about to start!!!

Moment before the tag

This Friday is the opening weekend for college baseball in Hawaii. The University of Hawai`i baseball team opens its 2009 season this weekend (Feb. 20-22) when it hosts UC Irvine on Friday at 6:35 p.m., Saturday at 1:05 p.m. (doubleheader), and Sunday at 1:05 p.m.

If your in the area it’s inexpensive entertainment. The most you’ll spend is $8 per person for a ticket to get in. The food is good and cheap and the seats are brand new. What more could you want outa life!
Well some good pics would be nice!